A long time ago there lived a king who ruled his country well. Gradually the pressure of governing made him unhappy. He knew he had everything - more than every other person in the kingdom and still felt unhappy. This made him sad and he began to consume alcohol and soon got addicted to it. He was unable to perform the duties as king without alcohol.

Realising that this was bad he sought help from the Royal physicians - but they could not cure him completely. Unable to tolerate this any longer one day the king ordered his chief advisor to cure him. "If I'm not cured in one week your head will be cut off" the king said. The chief advisor left the castle in search of an answer. A few days later he arrived and told the king "Your Majesty, I can cure you in three days. However you must appoint me as acting king with all powers for three days." Reluctantly the king agreed and announced that the chief advisor will rule the country for three days. Assuming duties the chief advisor banned consuming alcohol within the kingdom and imposed a death penalty for any person found guilty of consuming alcohol.

By evening the king came running to the chief advisor and said "surely these rules do not apply to me". The advisor smiled and replied "the rule applies to all citizens in this kingdom. You are free to obey it or have your head cut off." The king shivered at the thought of having his head cut off. The pain of death was greater than not consuming alcohol. The king ordered that all alcohol be removed from the castle. For three days the king did not consume alcohol. On the third day he realized that he can live without consuming alcohol and that it was simply a choice he had to make.

A choice you make
Habits are activities that you perform without consciously being aware. These are mostly things you do routinely. Eating, driving, combing your hair, brushing your teeth, getting dressed are things we habitually do. If a habit is not good for you and others around you, it is called a bad habit. Smoking, consuming alcohol, gambling, over eating, biting nails in public are in general considered bad habits. When you are unable to live without something - it is described as an addiction.

Can we do anything about these? Yes we can. If you followed the story of the king who stopped consuming alcohol fearing death, you'll realize that consuming something or doing something that is considered an addiction is deep down a choice you make. The words habit and addiction give you a safe cushion to pass the responsibility onto them. Once a person is said to have a bad habit and others say it - it becomes easy to hand over the responsibility of overcoming the bad habit to the phrase "I have a bad habit".

Bad habits disappear instantly
Imagine what happened to thousands of persons who said they can spend a day without a smoke. Thousands of such people stayed without a smoke, a drink and all other things they considered they cannot live without. What they wanted was not available and they had more important things to do during that period. This may not sound very appealing to some. However if you allow your mind to wonder about these facts you'll arrive at a new realization about habits, addictions and also how you live your life.

Beauty beyond a habitual life
The majority live habitually believing it is the way to live. We are conditioned from childhood on many things and our thoughts become habitual. If you record all the words uttered in your mind during a day you'll be surprised to realize that the same word and thought get repeated often. Sportsmen being aware of this get themselves coached. A coach discovers the unproductive habits and coaches a player to develop productive habits. In most developed countries successful people work with a life coach to awaken productive abilities and hidden paths. Life coaching is an amazing service which successful people make use of to help them live the beautiful life they dream of.

Powerful lessons
Think about the unwanted habits you have and take responsibility for them. Taking responsibility is not blaming yourself. It simply shows that responsibility for what happens is with you and the power to overcome it also is with you.

Decide which habits you need to dissolve and see if you can handle them alone. Find a friend or relative whose assistance you can get. Seek professional life coaching, discover new self improvement systems and allow a new life to unfold.